Jerry Lewis died on Sunday Aug. 20, 2017, of natural causes at the age of 91. Here is an interview former Postmedia Network entertainment critic Jim Slotek did with the star in 1997 during a touring production of Damn Yankees.

The "delicate delinquent" Jerry Lewis turns 71 Sunday, though he says he stopped counting at nine. He’s looked death in the eye and is having the time of his life. But let him tell you that.

"I’m having the time of my life!" he barks. "How many times do I have to tell you that?"

Star of the touring Broadway musical Damn Yankees, and the very embodiment of showbiz, Jerry Lewis is on the phone from a Detroit-area hotel, not apparently having the time of his life. Although, maybe he is. I’ve seen his eye gleam when he gives the press the backhand.

Once before when I asked him a question, the answer made headlines all over North America. It was 12 years ago. Jerry had played a Just For Laughs Festival gala in Montreal, and was holding a next-day press conference. I’d grabbed two French papers and one English, and scanned the reviews. The French called him a genius, the English review was a pan. So I asked about the reviews.

Instead of praising the French, he slagged the female reviewer from the Gazette, blaming the review on her period. Being a slow news day, the wires ran with it.

"But the thing is you remember that," says Jerry, when I remind him of it. "I don’t walk through life tiptoeing. I regret nothing. I only regret things I did not do."

Like what? "Going to the moon. That’s about it."

The play is Damn Yankees, a 1955 musical about a baseball team that sells its soul to the Devil. It starts five nights at the Hummingbird Centre tomorrow, and Jerry plays the Devil. "But this is a mischievous Devil. I’ve been playing the part for 65 years, kid. It comes easy."

You dance a lot in this. Was it hard to get in shape?

"Why would it be? I’ve sung and danced through my whole career."

But maybe your legs aren’t as young as they used to be.

"Your legs are as young as you make ’em pal."

Well, it’s great that you’re so robust — considering there was a time when your health was a concern.

"I’m having the best time of my life. I don’t believe in retirement. If you retire your brains go, your body goes, you sit on the couch and you roll over and you die."

In fact, you did die. You had an out of body experience.

"Yup, I’ve got five lives left…"

Five? Well, I remember the heart thing…

"The heart thing? THE HEART THING? You are insensitive. Heart failure is no joke. They opened up my chest with a Black & Decker! That’s not a thing."

I decide not to ask about his prostate surgery.

The past is somewhere Jerry won’t go in a half-hour phone interview. He will say that he and his old partner Dean Martin "had great closure" before his recent death. "It was wonderful, we had the best relationship in his last year that we ever had." Even when they weren’t speaking, he says, "We loved one another more than any two men ever loved one another in their lives — period."

Better to talk about now. His second wife SanDee and his five-year-old daughter Danielle have been with him at every whistle stop. Do they enjoy it? "If they didn’t, we wouldn’t be doing it. Las Vegas is home. I haven’t seen it in two years, but we love it. I’ll see it again when we shut the show down for the MDA Telethon."

His greatest accomplishment? "My daughter." Which is not to slight what he’s done for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. "It’s a huge thing, a billion, six hundred million worth of huge — total over 48 years."

Is it bittersweet that you’ve done so much and yet there’s still no cure?

"No. The research is incredible. It says there’ll be a cure for this insidious disease. I hope to live to see it."

Meanwhile, his Damn Yankees contract runs through 1999. With it, he conquered Broadway — one of his lifelong goals. So I ask why, when it finished its Broadway run, he didn’t move on to other things. He says he’s got at least three worthy movie projects on the shelf, for example.

"Why? Because I’m having the time of my life! I keep thinking you’re not hearing me."

Well, thanks for the time. I know you’re a busy man. And I sense you really are having the time of your life.

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By clicking "Create Account", I hearby grant permission to Postmedia to use my account information to create my account.

I also accept and agree to be bound by Postmedia's Terms and Conditions with respect to my use of the Site and I have read and understand Postmedia's Privacy Statement. I consent to the collection, use, maintenance, and disclosure of my information in accordance with the Postmedia's Privacy Policy.